Summerfolk Tickets

Written in 1904 by Russian playwright Maxim Gorky, Summerfolk is a dramatised commentary on the Russian bourgeois class and the changes occurring around them in the early 20th century. It's a hot, beautiful summer in 1905 and the Russian elite retreat to the countryside to swim, drink, and pass their time in passionate but often unhappy love affairs - all the while blissfully unaware of the looming revolution that will change their world forever.

Described as the most Chekhovian of Gorky's plays, Summerfolk is filled with rich, eccentric characters living in a world of 'false hopes and unfulfilled promises', and features a searing and darkly witty commentary on class and privilege in a turbulent political era. It first premiered at the Komissarzhevskaya Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1904, and now you can reexperience this marvel of 20th century writing here in London. Deputy Artistic Director Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky's Edge) will direct this thrilling revival, updated for a modern audience by Nina Raine (Consent) and Moses Raine (Donkey Heart).

Witness a piece of classic Russian literature in London with this dark, clever, and astoundingly witty piece of social satire.